Kenley Jansen: Dodgers ‘are still the best team in baseball’

The Los Angeles Dodgers have lost 16 of their last 18 games, going from a potentially historically great team to one scrambling to defend their home field advantage in the postseason.

That has not diminished the levels of confidence in the clubhouse, though, as evidenced by closer Kenley Jansen, who made a rather bold pronunciation before the Dodgers’ 5-3 win over the San Francisco Giants.

“Everybody is going to go through a tough stretch,” Jansen said, via Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times. “We are going through one right now, finally. It’s just part of baseball. What are you going to do, panic? Say we can’t play any more? No. We are going to get out of it. When we get out of it, everybody is going to have to watch out again.

“I don’t care how good the Indians are playing. I don’t care how good the Nationals are playing. We are still the best team in baseball.”

Record-wise, Jansen is actually correct. The Indians, however, have tied the MLB record for consecutive wins with 20 in a row, while the Nationals have closed to within 4.5 games of the Dodgers for the best record in baseball.

One of Jansen’s teammates offered a more brutal assessment of the club recently, but the confidence must remain in the Los Angeles clubhouse. They know how good they were and have to believe they can somehow get it back, but time is running out if they want it to happen before the playoffs start.